A New Age, A New Day
by It's-Teatime-Somewhere
Summary: Arthur is unconsious as Merlin battles Morgana...or is he? What if the Prince heard everything that happened? How would he react? standard reveal fic.


**A/N: I'm back! and with a new obsession: MERLIN! This little oneshot is mainly an entrance to the fandom, kind of a peace treaty so no one attacks me :) It takes place after 2.12, kind of an AU ending to that episode. For the spells I used an Old English translator so any misspellings were unintentional. The spell used is: _light, protect me, for the power of good shall always prevail. _Remember, reviews are wonderful, constructive criticism is fantastic, and flames are funny and entertaining!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I don't own Merlin, that epic right belongs to BBC :)**

_He was trying to fend off the army while protecting Merlin at the same time. The imbecile had demanded he come too, and Arthur couldn't let anything happen. He really did feel as if they were brother, although admitting it would be the last thing he ever did._

_Suddenly, Morgana appeared, her hair flying around her like a deadly halo. With one flash of her eyes, she sent Arthur tumbling to the ground._

_The pain that he felt was immense, but nothing he hadn't felt before. He became unconscious for a few seconds, but quickly came to. As he took in his surroundings, his eyes fell upon a strange scene._

_Merlin was standing up, circling with Morgana. Both pairs of eyes, blue and black, flashed with fury._

_"Morgana." Merlin said, his voice steely calm, "You shall never hurt anyone ever again."_

_"And what will you do about it, servant?" She asked mockingly. Arthur thought Merlin would back down, as any sane person should, but he stood his ground._

_"To the others, I may be just a servant. But to you, I am Emrys." The word made no sense to Arthur, but he saw a flicker of fear in Morgana's eye._

_"Impossible." She spat. "You cannot be the famed one. You don't have the power."_

_"Oh don't I?" Merlin replied, laughing coldly. As he stood there, the battle still raging around them, Morgana's eyes flashed golden once more, and a ball of fire as large as the Prince's head flew through the air at his servant. He was about to call out, to stop him from being incinerated, when Merlin did something amazing._

_With a wave of his hands, Merlin's eyes burned with the same golden light as Morgana's and the ball of flames was directed away, hitting a concrete pillar that tumbled to the ground._

_"Ah, learned a little magic, I see." Morgana said, a bit surprised._

_"Enough to stop you." He spit out. Arthur was surprised at the amount of malice his normally docile friend was able of showing. Then, Merlin began to speak._

"Blæcern, áscildan me, híe ríce sy ellenspræc ac þæs sylfum árfæstnes diht forestandan!" _The strange words came out of Merlin's mouth, and a sphere of blue light appeared in his hands. With a thrust, the energy was thrown towards Morgana, pushing her back. Merlin walked forward and Arthur had never seen such hatred in his eyes._

_"You have hurt enough people, Morgana."_

_"Merlin," She said, gasping as she tried one last time to persuade him,"Don't you get it? We could work together. People here would prosecute you for your talents, but with me, we would bring on the dawn of a new age."_

_"An age brought at what cost, Morgana? You are willing to sacrifice your friends for freedom?"_

_"What friends? Like Arthur? The man who would go tell his father like the good boy he is the minute he found out about you? He would have you burned at the stake and not even give it a second thought!"_

_Arthur was appalled. Would he really do that? sudden thoughts came to his mind. What would he do with Merlin?_

_"No. You're wrong, Morgana, about many things. Whatever you think will happen if you kill the King and destroy Camelot, the results will be worse by a tenfold. I'll give you a chance to leave, Morgana, and never return. If you do set foot in Camelot, I shall be the first to see you and the last face you ever see."_

_Arthur had never heard such power in his servant's voice. The wind was swirling around both of them, and in the misty light, Merlin looked so powerful, Arthur was almost afraid._

_A sudden gust of wind came up and began howling around Morgana. With a scream, she was gone. Merlin immediately ran to Arthur's side._

_Faking unconsciousness was easy enough, especially due to the pain in his head._

_"Oh, no. Arthur, you can't die. No. We're going to get you back to Gaius." Merlin said fiercely, daring Arthur to retort. Then, the skinny manservant, with strength he got from God knows where, hoisted the Prince on his shoulder and began to carry him the long was to the quarters._

The prince opened his eyes, and took in the room around him. He was lying in a cot, presumably Merlin's, in a small room. Looking to his right, he saw the servant in question sleeping in a chair next to the bed.

"Ah, feeling better, Sire?" Gaius came in, carrying flasks and bandages.

"Yes, I think." He replied, as Merlin was startled awake.  
>"Well, I'll leave Merlin to make sure you drink this pain-reliever, and go fetch some more blankets." With that, he hustled right back out, presumably to tell the king that his son had awoken.<p>

"How long was I out?" He asked Merlin, taking the potion.  
>"Just a day. Uther was up here a few hours ago but he had to go deal with casualties from the battle."<p>

"Ah, yes." Arthur said.

The two sat in a tense silence for a few minutes before Arthur brought up the subject itself.

"So, how many spells do you know?" He asked, with the air of one commenting on the weather yet still trying to mask his irritation.

"Oh, just a few." Merlin said, not paying attention to what he was saying, his eyes focused on a spot above Arthur's head. "I'll need to learn more-" It dawned on him what he was saying and Arthur hadn't seen such a frightened creature even when he was hunting.

"How did you know?" All of the color flushed out of his face, leaving it as pale as death.

"Heard you with Morgana. My question is why you never told me before."

"You would have killed me!" He replied, standing up as the shock wore off.

"Well, sorcerer's are evil!" Arthur cried in return. "You could kill me at any moment! They've threatened us before!"

"Arthur, I-" Merlin began, but Arthur's anger was still coming.

"I trusted you! All this time, you were a sorcerer!"

"Arthur listen-"

"No! How could you do this? You know the punishment, yet you still practice magic?"

"No, you don't-"

Arthur continued to fight, almost trying to convince himself as well that everything he had bee taught from birth was still right. But how could someone like Merlin be evil? He needed to find out.

"I understand just fine, thank you! It's why-" Arthur was heating up, standing eye to eye with his servant, when Merlin exploded.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Merlin cried, "You don't understand and you never have! I could have killed you any damn moment I wanted to! I sure have the power and the ability! But have I? NO! Instead I've been risking my life to save your Royal behind countless times!"

"What-what do you mean?" Arthur asked, cowering at his friend's yells.

"With the Great Dragon? Do you really think you defeated him on your own? And the Fisher King? Those wyvrens would have destroyed us both. There was that incident with the Questing Beast, a poisoned goblet, multiple injuries, and more! I was so busy risking my life for you I wouldn't have time to kill you, even if I wanted to!" Merlin would have continued, but Arthur held up a hand.

"You, you really were, protecting me?" Arthur whispered, quite scared of Merlin.

Merlin sighed in relief. "Yes, you idiot. I was."

"You risked you lfie for me." He was still trying to process everything he had learned. For someone who had been sent to the stocks because he was a terrible liar, Merlin was great at keeping secrets.

"Well, yours is worth more than mine. Besides, I don't have a choice." Arthur looked confused, so the warlock continued: "It's my destiny to protect you." He said simply, as if it should be obvious.

_How do you know so much?_

_I read a book._

The memory came rushing back to Arthur, as well as countless others. Times where swords suddenly stuck themselves into his enemies, tree branches fell by themselves, and fires blocked the pathways between him.

"You really have been protecting me." He said, embarrassed that he was admitting it.

"Yes. Now, I hope you don't kill me for doing so." Merlin said, snarky as ever.

"Merlin," Arthur began hesitantly. He saw the flash of fear in his servant eyes. "If anyone else said that to me, that they were practising magic and then yelling at me, they would be dead before they could say Warlock. However, I think it would be hard to find and train another servant. You may be a bumbling idiot, but you're one of the bravest ones I know."

"Thanks." Merlin replied with a smile, glad to know he wasn't going to be killed. However, the moment soon got quite uncomfortable, and Arthur sat back down.

"Now, Merlin. Since you can do magic, it should be much easier for you to do your chores. I need my boots polished, shirt pressed, stables cleaned, and my room is a disaster. Hurry up before I throw you down there myself." He smiled at his servant, letting him know that nothing had changed.

_No_, Merlin thought as he left, a smile on his face, _Nothing has changed, and nothing ever will._  
>And that's just the way he liked it.<p> 


End file.
